Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: Silver Twins

The mini bat selection at the souvenir kiosks at the Metrodome was not too bad. They only had the one Twins word logo design, but they had it in about six colors, which is about normal for mini bats. Mik ended up choosing the silver one because the silver color seemed to contrast and show off the logo the best.

Car Stickers Update: Minnesota Twins

The souvenir kiosks in the Metrodome only had stickers with players on them. We got one, but after the game we headed across the street to the Dome Souvenirs and ended up getting a logo set of stickers much like we got at the Padres. Now the American League one has one not quite entirely circular with the Twins one having crossed bats over the circle ball with the Twins logo.

Day 16: Mall of America and the Ballpark Connection

You know no trip to Minneapolis is complete without a trip to Mall of America. Perhaps you thought that there was no way we would work it into our ballpark trip without it being a non-baseball sightseeing stop. Well, it is a baseball sightseeing spot and even a ballpark one. That is because the Mall of America is built where the Metropolitan Stadium once stood, which is where the Twins played until the Metrodome was built.

In what used to be the Camp Snoopy Amusement Park and is now a Nickelodeon themed park in the middle of the mall there are two things to search out related to the Metropolitan Stadium. One is the original red seat up on the wall near the Log Ride. This seat is where the longest home run in the stadium was hit. The other thing is a plaque commemorating where the home plate used to be. Unfortunately, rides block the view of the seat from home plate and make it hard to notice how far that homer was actually hit.

This was a fun stop in my opinion even though it was only a half hour stop. Mik hated it because he just wanted to get on the road after the Twins game and get to Chicago as soon as possible, but if we gave into his every complaint then we would see nothing. Dad seemed to think it was a worthwhile stop like I thought, so two out of three is not bad considering Mik’s lack of wanting to enjoy anything beyond the mini bats and food.

Baseball Museum 4: Dome Souvenirs Plus Baseball Museum

The Dome Souvenirs Plus is a souvenir shop with mostly Viking and Twins merchandise. It is located across the street (sort of) from the Gate A entrance to the Metrodome. Inside it is a small one room baseball museum (also called Classic Sports Museum on one part of the shop’s entrance). The museum is sort of a way of getting people into the shop, but it is pretty interesting.

The museum is a one room one, but it is jam packed with cases of memorabilia to the point it was a tight squeeze for Mik to get through it. The memorabilia is mostly Twins related, but also includes a lot of stuff from random other MLB teams. The displays include signed baseballs, Twins World Series memorabilia, old programs, and classic ball caps. It is not exactly enough to go out of your way to stop here, but it is more than the minimal reason we next ended up at the Mall of America. Also, if you want Twins souvenirs at least until the new Target Field opens this is the place to get them, as the inside the Metrodome shops stink.

Accessibility Review: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

Overall I did not find the Metrodome too bad of a place to watch baseball, however, it does have some unique accessibility things to note. Let’s start with parking since that is the first thing we do at a ballpark. We found parking right across the street in the Dome Parking garage. However, there we got the last of two handicap spots that were on level one. Perhaps there were more on the second level, but boy was that a surprisingly few amount. At least it was convenient to the park and it had a large elevator.

Next going into the park is pretty easy to figure out as the gate for wheelchairs to enter is clearly marked. However, actually getting into the park is not as easy as it seems. You would think I could just open the door next to the revolving door and Dad push Mik through while I held it open, but no the usher insists you go through this odd set of doors. We go through the first set of automatic doors and then stand between the two yellow lines while the first set closes and then you can push the button to open the second set, but be careful and listen to the instructions or you end up being the idiot (DAD!!!!) that pushes the button that reopens the doors you just came through. Thus you then have to again wait for those to close and then finally end up with the correct button pushed and the doors in front of you opening, so you can finally five to ten minutes later finally end up in the park.

After that thankfully it was very straightforward to find the elevator to get up to the level we had seats on and there we had a friendly elevator operator. Then we found our section right after we got off the elevator. We get to the seats and they seem fine with them being in front of the section and the bar in front being in an okay position that does not block the sight much. Mik even got excited that the wheelchair spots have cup holders and me and dad in the regular seats have no cup holders, as you only get them in the regular seats if you are behind a row of seats since the cups are attached to the backs of seats only.

Mik soon ended up getting really obnoxious and pissed because another wheelchair arrives and sits in the spot next to him. He felt crowded, as this was the first time he had a stranger sitting next to him and similar to the annoyance of the standing people crowding him at the Dodger game. Such is the luxury he has had so far in the handicap section with at least always having one of us on each side and not having to sit next to a stranger until now, but that is no excuse for his rude behavior.

Now having someone next to him is not something I consider an issue in most cases, however, in the end it actually was an issue because in order for Mik to leave his spot the person had to move and then some musical chair sort of movements had to be orchestrated for Mik to escape to the concourse. This is what I found unacceptable about the accessible seating. At least the people with the lady were friendly about getting the lady and her wheelchair out of the way when necessary. I just do not think it is something either party should be inconvenienced with and it certainly could get annoying for either party or both if it had to take place during game play.

Let’s hope the seating situation is straight pull in at the new Target Field since that place was built for baseball. Also, not sure if this is how it is on the lower level, but honestly I only saw one little section of handicap seats on the lower level right down by the field, so almost all the handicap seating is like this in the upper level. It works if only one wheelchair is there, but since it was Strike Out Stroke Day almost ever section had two wheelchairs in each of the spots.

Now I do overall rate this the least accessible park so far, but I do not mean to say it is a bad experience, especially since there is lots of potential and hope for a Twins game to become a very accessibly enjoyable experience starting next season. I just think that without the thought of there for sure being a new stadium next season it would seem like a way worse situation that was not being dealt with.

Mik’s Food Scrapbook: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

Since it was till morning when we arrived at the Metrodome and Mik had not had breakfast I pointed out the Lil’ Orbits Mini Doughnuts outside the ballpark. He ended up really enjoying these and he stopped letting me share them quickly and said I should have gotten my own bag of them since I knew I wanted some of them as I had had this brand at the Farmer’s Market once.



After loving the mini doughnuts from the stand out front of the Metrodome, Mik was excited to try the ones he saw on the menu inside the park. The ones in the park were State Fair brand Mini Doughnuts. They were not the same and more cakelike and sort of like the powdered ones you get in boxes at the grocery store except they were supposedly fresh. Mik disliked them, but they were not the only disappointment at the Metrodome.



The other disappointment was the hot dog. Mik did not like the hot dog at all and did not even finish his first one. Even the bun was not that great in his opinion, but what really turned him off was it seeming to taste like mustard despite Dad only putting ketchup on it. At least at this ballpark we did not exactly pay for the hot dog, as a voucher for a hot dog and a 12-ounce soda came with each ticket in the family section.

Accessibility Review: Safeco Field

Parking for Safeco Field was easy to find in the parking lot for Qwest Field (where the city’s NFL team plays) across the street from Safeco. The handicap spots were even located on the side of the parking lot nearest the park, although you do have to take the elevator down a level to be on street level to get to the park. That is a minor inconvenience, as it seemed few actually parked in this lot and the garage has the large passenger elevators.

Our seats were located in section 194, which is part of the centerfield bleachers. We were lined up to go in the gate near our section and about 10 minutes before the park opened to the general public they had us go around to the nearby gate that bypassed the turnstiles. The elevator to the centerfield bleachers handicap seating is then right inside the gate by the stairs that lead up to the seating. Thus getting to the section was quite easy and actually even quite close to the car with that entrance to the park being right across the street from the elevators for the parking garage. The Team Shop, however, was on the other side of the park, but we were there early and took care of that before the park opened like we have done at many of the parks.

The seats in the centerfield bleachers were clearly the cheap seats with the handicap seating literally being right under the scoreboard and actually slightly behind the raised scoreboard. That and they were way high up almost like nosebleed seats, but not quite as high as some of the sections on the baselines. At least the sightlines were not messed up at all and not even by a bar in front of the handicap seating. Mik, however, did not like the seats because we were so high up and the next row was even several feet below us. This might not have been the best, but it seemed the ones in the lower sections probably had the overhang sightline issue that we have so far only encountered at Dodger Stadium, so the more expensive seats are not always the best, especially when it comes to handicap seating being at the back of sections.

There were no cup holders in the handicap bleacher section, but there were not any in the other bleacher section rows either, so Mik at least did not feel left out. However, I do not think he would go for these high seats again if it was his choice.